{"id":35789,"date":"2012-11-11T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T02:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=35789"},"modified":"2021-06-15T20:47:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T01:47:27","slug":"was-the-death-penalty-for-homosexuals-only-referring-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-death-penalty-for-homosexuals-only-referring-to-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Was the death penalty for homosexuals only referring to hell?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Does Deuteronomy 20 really say that we should kill gay people? I was always under the idea that it was saying God was going to kill them by sending them to hell when they died because they knew better and refused to change. Am I right? It came up in conversation and I was unsure.<\/p>\n

Also, I was wondering if people born with both sexes are talked about in the Bible? The guy I was talking to was a gay man who later in life found out that he had non-functioning ovaries. Could this contribute to his lifestyle and are they exempt from some judgment because it was a birth defect?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

You are referring to: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them<\/em>” (Leviticus 20:13). This is part of the Old Testament — a covenant we are no longer under. See\u00a0Why We Don’t Follow the Old Testament<\/a>. In that law, the list in Leviticus 20 contained the penalties\u00a0judges\u00a0<\/em>(not ordinary people) were to impose for different crimes. Yes, homosexuality carried the death penalty under Israelite law if two or more independent witnesses to the crime testified (Deuteronomy 17:6). The rule was referring to what people were to carry out and people cannot send someone to hell. Therefore, the law was not referring to future punishment in hell; though, this doesn’t mean that someone who committed a crime that carried the death penalty did not have to be concerned about also facing God in Judgment. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Does Deuteronomy 20 really say that we should kill gay people? I was always under the idea that it was saying God was going to kill them by sending them to hell when they died because they knew better and refused to change. Am I right? It came up in conversation and I was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[879,35],"class_list":["post-35789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death-penalty","tag-homosexuality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30916,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-allow-divorce-when-the-law-had-a-death-penalty-for-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":0},"title":"Why did Jesus allow divorce when the Law had a death penalty for adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm trying to figure out how to reconcile a couple of Jesus' statements in the Sermon on the Mount. First Jesus said, \"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39047,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-kill-people-and-steal-their-stuff\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":1},"title":"How can God kill people and steal their stuff?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As a new Christian, I'm now studying the Old Testament.\u00a0 I am struggling with all the killing and death that God either does himself or makes his people do. I find it extremely difficult to wrap my head around the fact that he sent Moses up the hill and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4241,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-my-husband-have-crossed-the-line-by-having-sex-with-another-guy-because-he-is-a-cross-dresser\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":2},"title":"Would my husband have crossed the line by having sex with another guy because he is a cross-dresser?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would my husband have crossed the line by having sex with another guy because he is a cross-dresser? Answer: Cross-dressing, the wearing of clothing associated with the opposite sex, is something consistently condemned in Scriptures. \"A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-leviticus-1920-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":3},"title":"Can you explain Leviticus 19:20 more?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Leviticus 19:20 imply that if the slave woman was not betrothed, it was not a sin to sleep with her? What punishment would it have been? Is the primary sin harm of the owner's property or sexual sin in itself? Why is no monetary compensation paid, unlike Deuteronomy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45916,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-isnt-rape-called-an-abomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":4},"title":"Why isn’t rape called an abomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is amazing to me. I've been studying the Bible to see why God favored men over women. I've been trying to find what is an abomination to God and to my amazement there's nothing that says is an abomination to rape a woman. As a woman that's very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-pacifist\/","url_meta":{"origin":35789,"position":5},"title":"What is a pacifist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What's a pacifist? Because I know the Bible says to turn your swords into something that is not used to kill. Answer: A pacifist is someone opposed to violence for any purpose. He believes that every matter can be handled without violence. Thus a pacifist is opposed to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}